iMac Stuck on White Start up Screen for Several Minutes

[photogpab]

hello all - looking for some help before i make a Genius Bar appointment. When I turn my iMac on it gets stuck on the white screen that appears before the Apple logo - it stays stuck on that screen for several minutes. I've timed it at 3 or 4 minutes at this point. Finally the apple logo appears and it boots all the way through.

This started about 2 weeks ago. at first it was only about a minute, but that was still odd. i thought it was something that would pass but its getting worse. As I mentioned above, it now stalls for several minutes.

any help? thanks all!

 

[hfg]

If you own an older iMac, it may be that the disk drive is failing, causing multiple reads and recalibration to eventually and slowly perform the full boot.

You might also check your SystemPreferences/StartUpDisk to verify that your disk drive is the selected boot device.

 

[Fishrrman]

Just a thought -

Check your "Startup Disk" preference pane, and verify that your internal drive is selected as the startup drive.

 

[EPiCDiNGO]

My Macbook Pro does this when I have an external HDD connected through USB . I have to unmount the externals before I reboot my system or it takes forever to reboot even with an internal SSD as my main drive

 

[Imac Sam]

My Macbook Pro does this when I have an external HDD connected through USB . I have to unmount the externals before I reboot my system or it takes forever to reboot even with an internal SSD as my main drive

I had the same issue. I disconnected all usb devices, and found that it was the USB data line for APC UPS.

 

[phisher1]

I had the same issue. I disconnected all usb devices, and found that it was the USB data line for APC UPS.

Ha! Finally. I've read so much garbage about causes for slow booting. Turns out the problem was my USB drive that I had plugged in for Time Machine. Unplugged and I boot in seconds.

Thanks!

 

[Imac Sam]

Ha! Finally. I've read so much garbage about causes for slow booting. Turns out the problem was my USB drive that I had plugged in for Time Machine. Unplugged and I boot in seconds.

Thanks!

No problem, glad I could help.